Southern Desert of Ro
| General Zone Info | Description | Dangers | Benefits | Travel To/From |
| Adjacent Zones: Innothule Swamp | Oasis of Marr |
|
General Zone info
| Level of Monsters: | 5-20+ |
|---|---|
| Types of Monsters: | Rattlesnakes, Tree Snakes, multiple other types of snakes, Cistern Asps, Pumas, Giant Sand Scarabs, Desert Madmen, Giant Tarantulas, Desert Tarantulas, Dune Tarantulas, Skeletons, Zombies, Ghouls, Dry Bone Skeletons, Lesser Mummies, Shriveled Mummies, Crypt Mummies, Cutthroat Dervishes, Orc Centurions, Orc Warriors, Orc Oracles, Orc Clerics, Orc Priests, Sand Giants |
| Notable NPC's: | Ancient Cyclops, Erg Bluntbruiser, Ortallius, Rathmana Allin, Sandgiant Husam, Scrounge, Terrorantula, Young Ronin |
| ZEM: | 75 (100%) |
| Zone spawn timer: | |
| Indoor/Outdoor: | Outdoor |
| Dungeon: | No |
| Bindability (Self/Others) : | Yes/No |
| Succor point : | X (286) Y (1265) Z (79) |
| COTH possible : | Yes |
| Can summon corpses : | Yes |
| Ground Spawns: | |
| Foraged items: | Berries, Fishing Grubs, Fruit, Pod of Water, Rabbit Meat, Rile's Sand Coin, Ro Dates, Roots, Vegetables |
| Allaclone links: | Bestiary, Drops/Equipment |
Description
Southern Desert of Ro marks the southern edge of the vast and dangerous Desert of Ro. It is the home base for the orcs that have spread northward into the desert proper, and their huts literally cover the grassy region next to the moister Innothule Swamp to the south.
Dangers
This zone is quite dangerous, especially if you didn't reach it by travelling through the much more dangerous northern Desert of Ro, in which case it seems like safe haven in comparison. This zone is a lower level zone than the Oasis of Marr to the north, and there are far fewer Sand Giants roaming the dunes, as well as fewer madmen. There are, however, more undead running around, including frequent ghouls and the occasional dry bone skeleton. All of these will attack you on sight.
Orcs are also present in large quantities. This is great for hunting purposes, and is the next step up for many trolls and ogres from the south once they reach 6th or 7th level and can group up. The grassy region, however, is very hilly, and it's easy to stumble across a camp that you didn't know was there. Luckily, it's an easy trek to Innothule Swamp. Of note, however, that good races will likely only be bound in Freeport at the closest, and a death here is 20 minutes of real life running to reclaim your corpse.
Recently there has been an increase in the risk of travelling through this area. The undead have been more prevalent, and types of stronger undead never before seen in this part of the desert have started appearing, including stronger mummies. Also, more snakes and spiders, the most frightening of which is the Terrorantula, which I believe was named by a group of drunken Barbarians...
Benefits
This area is like a higher level version of North Ro, and provides some good hunting for solo's up to level 20 and groups up to level 17 or so, depending on their size. It is also generally uncrowded, and you can take out orc camps all day without much competition.
The Dervish Cutthroat camps in this area are also less frequently camped, normally, and tend to be a bit tougher than the camps to the north. With the addition of the very frequent wandering monster attack, these camps are tougher than the ones in North Ro.
The merchant camp in the middle is a good place to sell for the evil races that aren't like elsewhere. They will also sell to people that they like from the "good" races as well, although will refuse service to most.
The other plus is that Ortallius and Rathmana are here. I haven't done either of their quests, but Rathmana offers an interesting bargain where you pay to pull out a random scroll, and is apparently the end of some other quest that I haven't discovered yet.
Travelling To and From Southern Desert of Ro
In the middle of the ridge of mountains that covers the northern edge of the zone lies a pass that leads to the Oasis of Marr. This pass is extremely deadly on the Oasis side, as Sand Giants regularly patrol in front of it, and madmen seem to live there. You will learn to see the notch in the mountains from the other end of the Oasis before long...
On the southwestern edge lies the pass to Innothule Swamp, the home of the trolls and hunting grounds for the frogloks. Further through the swamp lies Guk, the home of the frogloks, as well as the Feerrott, the forest home of the lizard men, the ogres, and other far more dangerous evils.
This also lies along the little taken southern route from Freeport to Qeynos. It requires intimate knowledge of the terrain to do safely if you are not from an evil race, but may be safer in the long run than the northern route.
External Resources: EQAtlas